Exodus 1:8-14 ▼

8 And there arose a new king over Egypt, who had not known Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are many and mightier than us.

10 Come, let us act wisely with him, lest he multiply, and it comes to pass when war meets us, that he also may join himself to those hating us and fight against us and go up out of the land.”

11 And they set over him chiefs of forced labor in order to afflict them with their burdens. And they built store cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses.

12 And as they afflicted him, so he multiplied and so he burst forth. And they were in dread from the face of the sons of Israel.

13 And Egypt made the sons of Israel serve with harshness,

14 and they made bitter their lives with hard labor—with mortar and with bricks and with all manner of labor in the field, all their service in which they made them serve—with harshness.